Methods for obtaining electronically-stored financial documents are generally known in the art. Financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, utilize such methods to rapidly and efficiently obtain financial documents for distribution to clients upon request. Such financial documents include paid checks, account statements, and other related documents. These financial documents are typically stored on microfiche, microfilm, digitally, or by some other electronic storage means. Further, these financial documents are typically electronically-stored in an on-site storage system located at the financial institution or in an off-site storage system. Electronic storage of these financial documents permits financial institutions to eliminate storage of paper or “hard” copies of these documents. The electronic storage of these documents also provides a means of retrieving the information from the on-site and off-site storage systems.
Once the document is stored, the client may request an image of a particular stored document. Client requests are made to replace lost or stolen documents, for tax purposes, for proof of financial transactions, for legal disputes, and other similar matters. The client's request is inputted into a computer terminal at the financial institution. More specifically, conventional methods for obtaining an electronically-stored financial document enable an employee of the financial institution, such as a bank teller, to input the request into an interface incorporated into the computer terminal. The interface is inter-linked with the on-site storage system. Typically, all requests for a particular period are grouped together and subsequently downloaded for retrieval of the requested image by the financial institution. The financial institution retrieves the image, e.g. a photocopy of the check, and then distributes the photocopy to the client via facsimile, mail or hand delivery. The storing, downloading, and retrieving of the financial document, including the reproduction and the distribution of the document, are known in the industry as back office production. Back office production for financial institutions is particularly resource intensive, time consuming, and expensive. Also, back office production becomes increasingly expensive if the client requests a particularly old financial document because older financial documents frequently require more resources and time to locate and retrieve.
The majority of financial institutions electronically store financial documents only in an on-site storage system and not in an off-site storage system. Consequently, these financial institutions are unable to outsource the responsibilities for the back office production to third party entities to alleviate the expenses and resources associated with the back office production. These financial institutions realize a significant financial burden since the back office production is concentrated strictly at the financial institution.
Other financial institutions do electronically store financial documents in on-site and off-site storage systems. However, the methods utilized by these financial institutions to access the financial documents stored in the off-site storage system are deficient in that the interface utilized in such methods is only inter-linked with the on-site storage system. That is, there is no interface independently inter-linked with the off-site storage system. As a result, the financial documents stored in the off-site storage system can not be efficiently accessed. These financial institutions are still responsible for retrieving the requested financial documents through their back office production and their expenses remain high. One such method of retrieving documents from on-site and off-sited storage systems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,610 to Copeland, III et al.
Due to the inefficiencies identified in the conventional methods used by financial institutions to obtain financial documents, it is desirable to implement a method for a financial institution to obtain electronically-stored financial documents from both on-site and off-site storage systems that reduces, if not eliminates, the back office production of the financial institution by providing a direct interface inter-linked with the off-site storage system. With such an interface, the responsibility for retrieving financial documents from the off-site storage can be outsourced to third party entities while still providing the financial institution with efficient access to any financial documents electronically-stored in the off-site storage system.